Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak on this matter of public importance and to denigrate the government for its failure to protect the integrity of our borders and immigration programs. At the core of this debate is the reality that the Rudd government changed a good, workable, functional and effective border protection policy purely for political reasons. There was no reason for Mr Rudd to change a system that had worked very well over a number of years. I will prove that with the figures I will talk about later on.

Since Mr Rudd made those changes, the Labor government has leapt from policy failure to policy failure, and has still failed to secure Australian borders. These failures have cost, and are continuing to cost, the country billions of dollars, to the detriment of other, good programs that could have been introduced or not cut back. How can this government claim any credibility on immigration and border protection after so many broken promises?

The stream of incoming boats is not getting any better. In fact, compared to the same time last year, we have had 1,700 more arrivals. Last year we had 17,000 people come to our shores illegally. Who knows what this figure will be, come the end of June? The total number of arrivals since November 2007 is a staggering 33,656. The total number of boats since November 2007 is 577.

The mind boggles in relation to what happens to these boats that come to our shores and to Christmas Island. They were, at one stage, being burnt off Darwin and Christmas Island. Now we believe they are being sunk. It would be pretty rocky shores of Christmas Island, if you go water-skiing around that area, with all these sunken boats! So I beg to ask that question, and if I am wrong about the boats being sunk I would like to know what is happening to those boats. And I would like to know what is happening to the crews, and what penalties they have faced.

The total number of arrivals since polling day, 21 August 2010, amounts to 424 boats and 26,307 people. The total number of arrivals since the Gillard government—24 June 2010—is 438 boats and 27,104 people. The total number of arrivals since the Malaysia announcement, on 7 May 2011, is 354 boats and 21,876 people, excluding crews. The total number of arrivals since the signing of the Malaysia deal on 25 July 2011 is 343 boats and 21,564 people. The total number of arrivals since 31 August 2011, the date of the Malaysia High Court decision, is 338 boats and 21,468 people.

Those figures prove that nothing the Labor government has introduced is working. The total number of arrivals since 13 October 2011 is 333 boats and 21,064 people. The list goes on. The total number of arrivals since 25 November 2011, when the announcement was made about the bridging visas, was 319 boats and 20,107 people. That is a lot of people.

These numbers prove that none of the government's attempted measures to bring Australia's borders under control have worked. More people have arrived on illegal boats this financial year than arrived over the entire 11 years of the Howard government.

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